About 70 percent of foreign currency
transactions in Zimbabwe are now takingplace in the parallel market where
premiums are in excess of 300 percent ofthe official rate of $55 to the
US$1, Intermarket Discount House says in itsresults for the six-months to
June.

This has fuelled price increases on goods and services placing
unduepressure on disposable incomes. Critical energy constraints and
foreigncurrency problems have also compromised the recovery of the
productivesector, casting doubt on prospects for economic recovery in the
short tomedium term.

With money supply growth at 73 percent in
May, the discount house sayseconomic stabilisation remains a challenge for
Zimbabwe if sustainablerecovery is to be achieved. According to its results,
discount receivableincreased marginally from $779.8 million to $811.3
million while interestincome dropped from $49.7 million to $30.6
million.

Interest expense however dropped from $680.9 million to $153.6
millionleaving net interest income at $688.4 million compared to $148.6
million theprevious year. While last year's income was affected by losses in
tradingand dealing income of $29.4 million and fees and commissions
totalling $237000, this year's income was further boosted by trading and
dealing profitsof $115.4 million, fees and commissions of $11.8 million and
other income of$18.7 million.

Operating income therefore increased
from $119.4 million to $834.2 million,while net profit shot up from $57.3
million to $516.6 million.

Agricultural output from small-scale
farmers in Zimbabwe may have fallen byas much as 50 percent over the past
five years mainly as a result of thekiller disease, AIDS, the United Nations
Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO) says in its latest report.

It
says 7 million agricultural workers have died from AIDS since 1985 in the25
worst affected African countries. Another 16 million could die within
thenext 20 years. Namibia seems to be the worst hit losing 26 percent of
itsagricultural labour force in the 15 years.

Neighbouring
Botswana and Zimbabwe are tied in second spot with a loss of 23percent,
while Mozambique and South Africa are also tied with a 20 percentloss. The
report says although Africa accounts for only one-tenth of theworld's
population, it accounts for nine out of 10 new cases of
HIVinfection.

Eighty-three percent of all AIDS deaths are in Africa.
The report says whilethe impact of AIDS on farming communities differs from
country to country,the epidemic is undermining the progress made in
agriculture and ruraldevelopment over the past 40 years. "The disease is no
longer simply ahealth problem, it has become a major development issue," FAO
says.

The report says in 1999, overall agricultural production failed to
keep upwith population growth for the third consecutive year. It rose by
only 2.1percent while population growth was 2.5 percent Preliminary
estimates for2000 were that agricultural production would only increase by
0.5 percent.

FAO says labour shortages are particularly serious for
agriculture becauseproduction was seasonal. Timing was therefore crucial.
The shortfall inhousehold labour meant that land remained fallow and the
household's outputdeclined.

The shortage of labour could lead to less
time being dedicated to weeding,mulching, pruning and clearing of land.
Farmers could also switch to lesslabour-intensive crops. The epidemic also
had a grave impact on agriculturalestates and could lead to a drop in
profitability through absenteeism owingto sickness, substantially reduced
productivity and higher overtime costs asother workers replaced their sick
colleagues.

It says at one estate in Kenya spending on funerals rose
five-fold whilehealth costs shot up ten-fold over an eight-year period.
HIV/AIDS could alsohave a serious impact on the livestock sector as the
livestock was sold tosupport the sick and to pay for funerals. Selling
livestock ate into ahousehold's savings, making families more vulnerable to
new shocks.

Medical and funeral expenses forced many of the poorer
families into debt.It also affected extension work as workers got affected.
FAO says in Uganda,considered the most successful country in Africa to
combat the disease,between 20 and 50 percent of all person-hours among
extension staff was lostas a result of the disease.

To coincide with the start of the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meetingin Brisbane, Australia on Saturday 6 October, there will
be two large,colourful, and peaceful demonstrations - one in London, and one
in Pretoria.It is very important that a strong protest is registered, to
make sure thatthe delegates to CHOGM fully appreciate the importance of
holding thegovernment of Zimbabwe to the public promises it recently made in
Abuja andHarare. Please make a HUGE effort for this one. We cannot emphasise
thisstrongly enough.

London : Starts at noon on Saturday 6 October
outside the Zimbabwe HighCommission in the Strand, followed by a march to
Trafalgar Square. Tel 01765607 900 for details.

Pretoria : Starts at
noon at the Union Buildings (corner Vermuelen and LeydsStreets), followed by
a march to the Zimbabwe High Commission at 798 MertonStreet, Arcadia. Tel
082 885 0771 for details.

Yesterdays statement from the IMF Board in Washington DC
is yet another clear signal that the isolation of Zimbabwe in political and
economic terms is being tightened by the international community. However, the
statement is less than honest in that it attributes this further suspension of
Zimbabwe from the activities of the fund as being solely due to the fact that we
are in arrears to the Fund.

In fact we are in arrears to our foreign
creditors on a massive scale and the MDC expects that by the end of March 2002,
when the term of office of this present government comes to an end, total
arrears will exceed US$1 000 million. This is the equivalent of half of
Zimbabwe's annual income in foreign exchange.

In fact, if the Minister of
Finance chooses to settle his arrears with the IMF (and he has the resources to
do so) he knows full well that it would not make any difference to the standing
of Zimbabwe in the international financial community. It would also not bring
the IMF to the rescue of the Zimbabwe economy. The reason for this is the fact
that all of the economic fundamentals in the Zimbabwe economy and in respect to
its current budget are so far outside the parameters set by the global economic
system, that the IMF could not under any circumstances justify assistance to
Zimbabwe. They and the world community know they would waste good resources in a
hopeless situation.

Even if Mr Makoni was able to get the fiscal and
monetary situation under some semblance of order and within reasonable
parameters, it is still certain that no assistance would be forthcoming for the
beleaguered economy, as the political environment is totally negative. The IMF
knows full well that it cannot consider any forms of assistance to a country
that does not respect the rule of law, uses violence and intimidation as
political weapons and totally disregards the fundamental rights of its citizens.
Zimbabwe is guilty on all counts and in addition is treating the fundamental
rights of investors in such a way as to undermine all investor confidence in the
country.

It is a sad indictment on the IMF that the wider aspects of
their position were not made more fully understood for the benefit of those who
suffer under the Zanu PF regime in Zimbabwe.

Below are two different
documents prepared by the MDC Economics Department. The first is on price
increases and the second on unemployment and job creation. They describe the
current situation in Zimbabwe and the MDC's policy to address these issues.
They are in straightforward english and when printed are each about a page
long. Print them out seperately, distribute them to your friends, colleagues,
workers, or acquaintances.

Help us spread the message of the
MDC.

Together we will complete the change for a better life for all
Zimbabweans! The power is in our hands.

Price Increases in
Zimbabwe

In the past two years the prices of most products used by
Zimbabweans have more than doubled. Incomes have not kept pace with these price
changes and as a result, the great majority of Zimbabweans are poorer than they
were more than 20 years ago. In fact, recent price changes have created near
crisis conditions in many homes with children going to school without breakfast
and whole families only eating one meal a day. To save on transport costs, many
workers are sleeping at their places of work or walking for hours to and from
their workplaces.

There are three main reasons for this state of affairs:
-

1. Corruption is now on such a scale that prices of certain basic
products such as liquid fuels are being increased to well above regional
averages.2. Shortages of basic foodstuffs such as wheat, maize and cooking
oils has meant that we have to import these products at much higher cost than if
these were produced by our own farmers.3. The government continues to
operate beyond it means and must print money to finance its activities. This is
causing inflation in the economy and is also raising the price of basic
goods.

Average inflation in the cost of a basket of groceries has been
122 per cent since September 2000. The worst affected have been bread - 213 per
cent, cooking oil - 141 per cent, soap - 260 to 300 per cent, paraffin - 292 per
cent, margerine - 143 per cent. The very rapid rise in bread prices is due in
the main to the need to import wheat using foreign exchange purchased on the
parallel market. Fats and oils are also affected by this situation as is soap.
In the past, all of these products have been produced from raw material produced
by our farmers. In the past year all products have declined in output and the
situation is getting worse.

Studies of the fuel price indicate that as
much as 50 per cent of the current prices at the pump are due to corruption or
inefficiencies in the procurement and delivery system. As a consequence we pay
fuel prices which are three times the level of fuel costs in South Africa. This
impacts on virtually everything we use and consume. It has made paraffin costs
prohibitive with the result that people are being forced to use wood or any
other fuels they can afford.

Price controls are not the answer to these
fundamental problems - they must be dealt with at source - an MDC government has
pledged itself to tackle these issues and to root out corruption and thereby
curb the rise of prices. At the same time, an MDC government will quickly
restore stability and growth to the economy creating jobs and raising incomes.
Only when this happens will the decline in living standards be halted and
reversed. MDC wage policies call for minimum wage strategies that will link
wages to price inflation to protect living standards while inflation
persists.

No matter what the people in power will say, the only
conditions under which such a situation can be achieved is one where the rule of
law is re-established, our relations with the international and regional
community are restored and stability comes back to the farming districts. Until
these basic issues are addressed there can be no reduction in the cost of living
or any improvement in incomes and job losses will continue throughout the
economy.

--------------------------------------------------------

The
Job Crisis.

In the past two years some 300 000 Zimbabwean workers have
lost their jobs - over a quarter of all the people in formal employment. On top
of this, hundreds of thousands of people who rely on the informal sector for
their income have suffered either a total collapse of the income generating
activities or a serious reduction in their incomes from such
activities.

When a man or a woman looses their job, they have nothing to
fall back on and in most cases the entire family is left without income. Such
events as those outlined above represent real hardship for millions of people
throughout the country. This plus the rise in prices and falling incomes, even
for those in paid employment, means that people in the cities do not have the
surplus income to support their extended families and cannot afford to send
money home for essential things such as school fees and food. Instead, the
majority of people in the cities now depend on food from their rural homes to
sustain themselves and their families.

The loss of jobs and income from
informal sector activity is due to the deterioration in the economy as a whole.
This is especially true in sectors such as tourism and agriculture but it also
applies to the mining industry, industry in the cities and in the service
sector. No part of the economy is spared the impact of the present
crisis.

The MDC has pledged to reverse this situation in the shortest
time possible by restoring the rule of law, stabilise our relations with the
international and regional community and correcting the way the economy is being
managed. These actions will enable the MDC to re-establish all lost jobs in the
formal sector and at the same time create new opportunities by fostering the
growth of key industries and assisting those in self-employment to expand their
activities.

The MDC stabilisation and recovery programme, part of the
BRIDGE strategy adopted by the MDC, will create 500 000 jobs in the first three
years - 300 000 of the jobs lost in the past two years under Zanu PF will be
restored and an additional 200 000 jobs will be created by new investment in the
following sectors: -

Mining - it is expected that major new investments
will take place in platinum, gold and chrome industries.Tourism - it is
expected that tourism will recover rapidly once law and order is re-established
and that Zimbabwe will receive 2 million visitors a year by 2004. To handle this
number of visitors we will have to create 200 000 new jobs in this sector
alone;Agriculture - under the MDC agrarian reform programme we expect to
establish up to 50 000 small scale tobacco growers in the tobacco industry, 30
000 new coffee and tea producers, 7 000 sugar producers and up to 1 million
small scale farmers will receive title to their land and support for new forms
of production.Industry - this is expected to recover and then to start
growing rapidly as access to new markets such as those opened up in the USA,
Europe and the SADC become available to our manufacturers and confidence is
re-established.

You cannot create jobs while you destroy the jobs in
existing industries, you cannot create jobs in an atmosphere of violence and
intimidation, and you cannot create jobs without confidence and peace. Only the
MDC offers the conditions under which job creation can become a reality.

Australia needed to press the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting(CHOGM) to push for monitors in Zimbabwe to ensure a free and fair
electionthere, MPs were told.

A delegation from Zimbabwe, including
farmer Vernon Nicolle, journalistBenhilda Chanetsa and economist John
Robertson, said sanctions againstZimbabwe President Robert Mugabe may be
needed if next year's election wasrigged.

Members of the group met
government and opposition MPs to highlight thesituation in Zimbabwe, where
Mr Mugabe has seized white-owned farms andreturned them to so-called
veterans of the independence war of the late1970s.

That process and
the accompanying breakdown of law and order has beencondemned by Zimbabwe's
opposition parties and independent press and byAfrican and western
nations.

Mr Mugabe says he will attend CHOGM in Brisbane from October 6-9
but itremains unclear whether he will actually turn up to confront the
expectedavalanche of criticism.

Ms Chanetsa, a reporter with the
independent weekly The Standard, said sheand her colleagues faced routine
intimidation, threats and violence forreporting the government's
activities.

"It should be stressed we need a free and fair election so
election monitorsare important," she said.

"If we don't have a free
and fair election, some kind of sanctions are goingto have to be imposed on
Zimbabwe."

She said one type of sanction which would not harm the already
sufferingZimbabwean people would be restrictions on travel to foreign
countries by MrMugabe and members of his government.

Presidential
elections are due to be held in Zimbabwe early next year.

Mr Nicolle said
Mr Mugabe had become a dictator and he would almostcertainly lose office in
a free and fair election.

"We feel that the only way to bring these
people to book is by freezingtheir bank accounts. They have got millions,"
he said.

"It goes beyond him. His henchmen are there as well."

Mr
Robertson said those occupying the farms would become subsistencefarmers,
having no title to the land, paying no wages and salaries to formerfarm
workers and exporting no produce.

He said the nation's food production
was falling and up to a million peoplefaced starvation.

The MDC position on the Citizenship Amendment Act passed
earlier thisyear follows:

This amendment IS constitutional. It
CANNOT BE CHALLENGED in terms of thepresent Constitution of Zimbabwe.
However, the MDC's position is that oncewe come into power, all bad
legislation will be withdrawn. Furthermore,the MDC intends to allow
Zimbabweans to claim and fully enjoy any birthrightor other citizenship to
which they are entitled, in the spirit of the UnitedNations Charter on Human
Rights and other international agreements.

Meanwhile, anyone who is also
a citizen of another country is required toRENOUNCE THAT CITIZENSHIP IN
TERMS OF THE LAWS OF THE OTHER COUNTRYBY 6 JANUARY 2002 if s/he wishes to
remain a citizen of Zimbabwe.

If you renounced your other citizenship at
the Citizenship Office here usingthe form provided by the Zimbabwe
government, that is no longer sufficient.To remain a Zimbabwe citizen, you
will have to go to the embassy or highcommission of the other country and
renounce that citizenship by whateverprocess the laws of that country
require - and do this by 6 January 2002.

NB If you have NEVER CLAIMED ANY
OTHER CITIZENSHIP, ie. NEVER USED ANOTHERPASSPORT OR ENJOYED THE PRIVILEGES
CONFERRED BY HOLDING ANOTHER CITIZENSHIP,then you are NOT A CITIZEN OF ANY
OTHER COUNTRY.It is important to be aware of this, because being entitled to
anothercitizenshipis not the same as having that citizenship.

It
has come to our attention that people are being told at the PassportOffice
herethat if either of their parents was born outside this country, they
willhave to renounce the citizenship of that country. THIS IS NOT TRUE,
unlessthey themselves hold the citizenshipin question as described
above. Our Secretary for Legal Affairs, DavidColtart, recommends that
anyone in this situation who is not allowed torenew their Zimbabwe passport
seeks relief through COURT ACTION - pleasecontact him or me if you want
further advice about this.

Please also note that in terms of the
Constitution, PERMANENT RESIDENTS ofZimbabwe who have been permanently
resident since BEFORE 31 December 1985are ENTITLED TO REGISTER TO VOTE,
despite provisions in the Electoral Actwhichcould be challenged. People
who have become permanent residents AFTER 1985are not entitled to
vote.

If you are required to take any action to remain a citizen of this
countryand this is your wish, WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO SO AS SOON
ASPOSSIBLE, otherwise you may not be able to meet the deadline of 6
JANUARY2002. Remember the Christmas holiday period starts at the beginning
ofDecember, so you effectively have TWO MONTHS LEFT.

Stay at
Leopard Rock Hotel between 01 September - 30 November 2001 and you
could win a Weekend in Cape Town worth $0.5
million.

All you have to do is stay at Leopard
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Special conditions apply to the
draw:No employees or relatives of employees from LRH and associated
advertising agencies may enter. The draw will take place after November 30th
2001. Judges decision is final.

THE prospect of owning a home for millions of Zimbabweans is fading
into adistant dream, snuffed by a nightmarish rise in the cost of houses
andapartments in the past few months.

Prices have more than
doubled since January.

In Harare's upmarket suburbs of Chisipite and
Borrowdale, for instance, thesurge of property prices has been between $15
million and $20 million whilein the middle-density suburb of Marlborough a
four bed-roomed house willaverage around $8 million.

Even in the
capital city's poor high-density areas of Mabvuku and Budiriro,prospective
home seekers now need at least $1.2 million to buy afour-bedroomed
house.

For most home seekers, the problem is compounded by the fact that
buildingcosts have soared beyond their means, leaving them with no option
but tosoldier on looking for a house or an apartment.

Building costs
have shot up an average of 220 percent since January.

Huge
appetite

Zimbabwean estate agents this week said this had sparked a huge
appetite forresidential properties in the high, middle and low-density
areas, creating aserious shortage of properties and pushing up
prices.

They said very few residential property owners were now willing
to put theirhouses on the market because of the high value attached to
them.

"There is high inflation and therefore the cost of building
escalates," aspokesman for Fox and Carney Real Estate Agents told the
Financial Gazette."This has created a huge demand for already built
property, thus pushing theprices up sharply."

The Association of
Building Societies of Zimbabwe (ABSZ) said the acuteshortage of serviced
urban stands in most local authorities had preventeddevelopers from offering
new housing units and this had pushed up demand forhouses.

But market
analysts said the factor that had a far reaching impact onresidential
property prices this year was the fall in money market interestrates from
over 50 percent at the end of 2000 to 10-year lows of slightlyabove 10
percent in January.

Lending rates

The decline in interest rates
led to the reduction of the dividend rate onClass "C" tax free shares from
23 percent to 14 percent, which prompted mostbuilding societies to cut
mortgage lending rates, making it cheaper for somehome seekers to borrow
money.

"Following the reduction in dividend rate on Class "C" tax free
sharespayable by building societies from 23 percent to 14 percent, which
wasgazetted by the Ministry of Finance on 29 June 2001, most societies
havereduced their mortgage lending rates," ABSZ chairman Ben Chikwanha told
theFinancial Gazette.

"Each society determines its own lending rates
and the reduction sinceJanuary has varied in the range of six to seven
percent. For example, one ofthe largest societies dropped its lending rates
for owner-occupied propertyin low-density areas from 26 percent in January
to 19.85 percent in July.Any reduction in lending rates clearly increases
demand from those homeseekers who could not afford the previous higher
rates."

Soft rates

Soft interest rates have also fuelled a huge
appetite for equities on theZimbabwe Stock Exchange, where prices reached
record highs this year, andfor foreign currency on the parallel market, also
leading to rapidlydepreciating exchange rates.

Many investors making
profits on the stock and parallel foreign exchangemarkets have poured their
money into property, where they know it willmaintain its value in an
environment where inflation has reached a recordhigh of 76 percent and is
expected to close the year at around 100 percent.

"Because of low rates,
people realise that they should put their money intoproperty," said a senior
property consultant with Harare-based GainsboroughEstate Agents.

"It
is not attractive anymore to put your money on the money market.Investors
believe that their investment in property holds its value and ithas proved
itself very well - that is why prices of houses have doubled.

"Companies
and investment houses are giving their staff loans to buy housesso we have a
situation where too many people are now chasing after too
fewproperties."

The lucrative rates on the parallel market, which
fell from around $85against one US dollar at the beginning of the year to
about $300 now, havealso attracted investment in the residential property
market fromZimbabweans living abroad who bring in hard currency to sell on
theunofficial market.

Shortage of properties

The Gainsborough
consultant said: "There are a lot of Zimbabweans livingabroad who are
investing in the property market. This has also led toshortages of
properties because now there is not enough to go around."

But the estate
agents said there were also some Zimbabweans who hadbenefited from the civil
war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),where Zimbabwe has troops
and where some local companies and individualshave gone into
business.

These individuals were bringing back hard cash in "bags", which
they wouldexchange on the parallel market, enabling them to buy properties
with pricetags as high as $70 million.

"We are also seeing a certain
quarter of people bringing hard currency inbags from fortunes made from the
DRC war and these have purchased a lot ofthe upmarket properties," a
spokesman for another Harare-based estate agentsaid.

"In a way, this
has created high demand for such properties and pushed upprices."

The
Gainsborough consultant said if interest rates firmed, investorattention
would shift back to the money market and this would help stabilisethe prices
of houses.

"There would be more people disposing of their properties in
order to investon the money market where there would be higher returns," the
consultantsaid.

But interest rates are not expected to firm for a
while yet and estateagents warn that the price distortions in the
residential property marketwill not be eliminated until the rate of
inflation has also eased.

Until then, prices will just stabilise and not
decline.

"But who then is going to bring inflation down and make building
materialsaffordable and available?" asked a spokesman for Gabriel Real
Estate Agents.

The Fox and Carney spokesman added: "I think if we get
inflation down, itwill help a great deal in normalising the prices of houses
but at the momentit does not seem possible."

The government has so
far refused to implement economic policies that wouldlead to a decline in
inflation, which is blamed for much of Zimbabwe'smacroeconomic
instability.

UNIVERSITY of Zimbabwe (UZ) vice chancellor Graham
Hill yesterday threatenedto shut down halls of residence at the institution
of higher learning andannounced restrictions on students following
destruction of universityproperty on Tuesday night.

Drunken students
chanted their way onto the campus at 7:30 pm on Tuesday,throwing stones and
other missiles at UZ buildings and security personnelwhom they accused of
brutalising them during previous demonstrations.

They besieged the
central security control room and vandalised surveillanceequipment, smashed
windows, ransacked staff offices and looted a dining hallbefore the
disturbances were stamped out by riot police, who descended onthe campus
armed with rifles and teagas canisters.

Hill yesterday told students that
a repeat of Tuesday night's violentdisturbances would lead to the closure of
all halls of residence at the UZ,which has been rocked by student violence
in the past few years, sometimesforcing the complete closure of the
university.

"Just give me an excuse and I'll do it," he warned
them.

The closure of the halls of residence would have a profound impact
onstudents, especially those from outside Harare, forcing them to
seekalternative and often expensive accommodation.

The UZ head also
announced the suspension of the computerisation of theuniversity's halls of
residence because of what he termed students'irresponsibility towards UZ
property.

Students have also been told that the institution's main
library, whichnormally only shuts down after midnight, will now be closed to
them at sixin the evening.

UZ publicity and information secretary
Elizabeth Karonga told the FinancialGazette that the UZ administration had
not yet established the motive forthe disturbances. She said inadequate
funding, which in the past has fuelledstudent violence, had been addressed
earlier this year when students weregranted an extra $5 000 each to be
disbursed before the end of this week.

But riotous students are reported
to have been addressed on Tuesday eveningby five recently suspended members
of the student executive council, at BondStreet Bottle Store outside the UZ
campus, before they went on the rampage.

They are also said to have met
opposition Movement for Democratic Changespokesman Learnmore Jongwe. Jongwe,
a former student activist, howeverdenied the allegations, saying: "That is
hogwash. I have no businessaddressing students clandestinely."

Irate
UZ students yesterday met university officials to map out strategiesfor
dealing with hooligans on campus and overwhelmingly supported thesuspension
of those involved in Tuesday night's disturbances, which havescared off some
staff members.

"Because of the security risks created by the
disturbances, expatriate staffliving on campus have refused to turn up for
work today (Wednesday) untilthe security of their families is guaranteed,"
Karonga said.

ZIMBABWEAN commercial banks have
begun cutting off external services such asthe use of international credit
cards by clients as the economic crisis ofbiting shortages of hard currency
grips the country.

Barclays Bank, Zimba-bwe's largest commercial bank,
this week announced thatit would stop the use of all international credit
cards such as VISA andMastercard as from October 15.

The bank said
the move had been necessitated by "the continued limitedavailability of
foreign currency". The action was also meant to directforeign currency to
critical areas such as medical and educationalrequirements, it
said.

A teller at one of the Barclays branches in Harare said the bank
suspendedthe issuing of international credit cards to new clients in
March.

Some banks, however, were this week still issuing international
credit cardsbut limiting the amount of money which clients could use for the
whole year.

An official at the Jewel Bank, also known as the Commercial
Bank ofZimbabwe, said the group was issuing new credit cards of a maximum
value ofUS$1 000 annually.

Audrey Mpunzwana, the spokesman for
Standard Chartered, said her bank hadnot yet suspended the use of
international cards but cannot rule out thepossibility of doing so in
future.

Zimbabwean commercial banks have been barred by the government
from tradingforeign currency on the local parallel market where rates,
though declining,have been at a premium for more than a year.

The
parallel market remains awash with foreign currency because dealers,
whocannot offload at current managed rates, are playing a wait-and-see
game.

SPIES from the state's Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and othersfrom the governing ZANU PF party have
infiltrated the opposition Movementfor Democratic Change (MDC) heavily to
try to dramatically weaken the partybefore next year's crucial presidential
poll, it was learnt this week.

CIO and ZANU PF machinations have thrown
into disarray the MDC'srestructuring exercise that was meant to bolster its
provincial offices andboost party leader Morgan Tsvangirai's chances of
snatching the poll, thesources said, but senior opposition party officials
this week insisted thattheir election campaign was on target.

Recent
MDC polls to inject new blood in key provinces such as Harare andManicaland
have been torn by strife, with new camps aligned to some of theparty's
leaders emerging, much to the delight of ZANU PF's war machine.

War
machine

Welshman Ncube, the MDC's secretary-general, said this week his
party wasaware of the CIO infiltration but was confident that ZANU PF's
covertoperations would fail to derail the campaign to get Tsvangirai elected
intothe State House in polls which must be held by March next
year.

"We are aware that the CIO's fulltime job now is to destroy the MDC
and wehave the inside information of all their machinations," Ncube told
theFinancial Gazette.

He added: "Believe me, they will not succeed
because the MDC is a people'sparty. The party is as strong as ever and, like
any other party, you willhave internal differences, which is
healthy."

Government media in the past few weeks has been trumpeting the
cracks withinZimbabwe's strongest opposition party that were recently
dramatised by thechaotic and violent provincial elections in
Harare.

Officials assaulted

The Harare polls were abandoned two
weeks ago after some party youthsstormed the meeting and assaulted
officials. The youths refused to allow theparty's interim executive to be
replaced.

The Herald this week said it had a letter written by three MDC
legislatorsto Tsvangirai accusing its Member of Parliament for Hatfield
TapiwaMashakada of having formed an underground youth movement that was
creatinghavoc within the party.

Ncube said the state media "had made
a mountain" out of the letter and hewas surprised that the letter had found
itself in the newspaper's pagesbefore it had even reached its intended
recipients.

MDC warned

Celebrated Zimbabwean writer Chenjerai Hove
warned the MDC that ZANU PF hadused the same infiltration tactics to great
success when serious politicalparties such as Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity
Movement were formed in thelate 1980s.

"The mistake that our society
makes is to over-relax and be off guard andalso not to realise that an
institution such as a political party is aserious matter. Our politicians
enjoy the glory and forget their duty andcommitment to the electorate," Hove
observed.

Very minimal

Hove said ZANU PF had since 1980 perfected
tactics to weaken seriousopposition parties and the labour movement towards
crucial elections. Heurged the MDC to be extra-vigilant in its preparations
for the 2002presidential poll.

Brian Raftopoulos, a lecturer in
development studies at the University ofZimbabwe, said while it was clear
that the MDC might have been infiltratedby the CIO, the damage to its
structures was still very minimal.

"The effect of the infiltration on
next year's poll depends on howeffectively the MDC manages to contain it but
it can get out of hand," hecautioned.

He said it had always been the
pattern in Zimbabwe after independence in1980 that the governing party would
infiltrate newly formed parties toweaken them before they got
established.

"When you are young and you are trying to establish
structures, infiltrationis something you have to live with and learn how to
deal with. The MDC hasmanaged to contain it and I think the government media
is blowing the wholeissue out of proportion," he said.

Two
camps

On the issue of polarisation between former trade union leaders
andacademics within the MDC, Raftopoulos said while there was obvious
tensionbetween the two camps, it was not that severe to undermine the
coalition ofthe different groups that form the party.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has quietly tightened his
grip on Zimbabwe as worldattention focuses on the United States, and
political analysts say pressureon him to honour a pledge to end land
seizures has eased.

In the last two weeks, the veteran leader has stepped
up an onslaughtagainst opponents and has barely implemented a
Nigerian-brokered deal onZimbabwe's land crisis, they said.

Mugabe's
government insists the deal is alive and dismisses sceptics as"false
prophets of doom and gloom and economic terrorists" bent onsabotaging
Zimbabwe's economy.

Harare-based diplomats say that while it is too early
to write off theagreement reached in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on
September 6, the signsare not encouraging.

"The movement on the
ground does not inspire confidence. You get theimpression that the Zimbabwe
government wants the relief (from internationalpressure) that this agreement
has brought but we are not seeing anyenthusiasm beyond interpreting what the
agreement means," one Africandiplomat said.

"We get the impression
that without continuous pressure from theinternational community, this
agreement might collapse and . . . theZimbabwean authorities have been
taking some comfort that since September11, world attention has been on the
US," he added.

Ending a two-day summit on Zimbabwe's land crisis on the
same day the WorldTrade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington
were hit by suicideattacks, six leaders of the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC)gave Mugabe one month to show progress on restoring the rule
of law.

Mugabe endorsed the Nigerian plan to end government farm seizures
inexchange for funds from former colonial master Britain to implement a
fairland reform plan.

Information Minister Jonathan Moyo went on
state television for about anhour on Tuesday night to assert the
government's commitment to the Abujaagreement, saying there was no reason to
doubt the good faith of allparties.

"We are already implementing the
agree-ment . . ." he said.

The mainly white Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU), which represents4 500 members, says the Abuja agreement "can be made
to work as it containsthe principles of justice".

Mugabe, 77, has
suggested that some CFU officials are trying to sabotageZimbabwe's image by
continuing to feed false stories about violence andlawlessness.

Nine
white farmers have been killed and scores of black farm workersassaulted
during the invasion of hundreds of white farms in the past 19months by
militant supporters of Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party. They are ledby
self-styled veterans of the 1970s independence war against white
minorityrule in the ex-Rhodesia.

But since the Abuja accord and the
SADC summit, critics say Mugabe has piledeven more pressure on his
opponents.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
also welcomedthe Abuja deal. But it says dozens of its supporters have been
driven out oftheir homes in the countryside in a campaign of intimidation
ahead ofpresidential elections due by next April.

"If this was a
soccer match, we could easily say that Mugabe is scoring someirregular goals
and getting away with some crippling tackles," said BrianRaftopoulos, an
associate professor at the Zimbabwe Institute of
DevelopmentStudies.

White farmers say violence has continued on their
properties since Abuja butthe government says any fresh trouble has been
engineered by farmers todiscredit it.

Political analysts say that
even if Mugabe wanted to evict thousands of hismilitants from white farms,
his task would not be easy. He needs theirservices to help secure victory in
a presidential poll likely to be foughtaround the economy.

Zimbabwe
is in its third year of recession and grappling with a fuelshortage, a hard
currency crisis and looming food shortages which couldspark social
unrest.

The privately owned Daily News, which Harare accuses of
beingpro-opposition, said Mugabe had accepted the Abuja agreement to
deflectinternational sanctions, but had no intention of implementing
it.

In a recent report, the International Crisis Group, a think-tank
inBrussels, said Mugabe and his ZANU PF elite should face targeted
personalsanctions if he did not allow the elections to be free and fair. -
Reuter

ABOUT 40 more farm invaders, suspected to
be Zanu PF supporters, on Mondayforced their way onto Treadour Farm, about
28km outside Harare, anddestroyed property worth thousands of dollars before
they started erectingtheir own temporary structures.

This brings to
about 100 the number of invaders illegally occupying the farmwhich belongs
to Gordon Christie, a businessman.

Christie is the managing director of
Tauya Coach Services and Freight (Pvt)Ltd.Earlier in the month, more
than 40 invaders, wielding axes and brandishingpistols, pegged the farm and
gave Christie and 500 of his workers 30 days toleave or face unspecified
action.Christie said the invaders have hired people to erect the structures
at $600each.

Christie said: “Sixty more people who claimed to be war
veterans forcedtheir way on to my farm on Monday. The broke down the gate
and padlocks andpulled down part of the fence before they made their way in.
Although I havenot established what the cost of the damage is, I believe it
runs intoseveral thousands of dollars.”

His farm manager went to the
farm to find out if some of their animals hadnot escaped.Christie
insisted his farm had not been listed for resettlement.A housing project
worth at least $64 million which was to benefit at least160 families has
been jeopardised because of the invasion, he said.Draughtsmen had completed
the planning stage of the four-roomed houses whichcost about $400 000 each,
said Christie.

He said the invaders had ordered all farming activities to
be stopped.“I may have to lay off a number of my workers since they will not
beproductive on the farm,” he said.Last year, six of Christie’s coaches
were extensively damaged in suspectedacts of arson because they carried MDC
advertisements.

THE National Constitu-tional
Assembly (NCA) was last night expected to filean urgent application with the
High Court barring the government frominterfering with the public launch
tomorrow of its draft constitution onZimbabwe.

Rose Gomo of
Harare law firm Atherstone and Cook was last night preparingcourt papers for
the application, which is likely to be heard thisafternoon.

The
application cites the Minister of Home Affairs, John Nkomo, as the
firstrespondent, the Commissioner of Police, Augustine Chihuri, as the
secondrespondent and the police officers commanding Harare and Bulawayo
districtsas third and fourth respondents respectively.

NCA chairman
Lovemore Madhuku said the decision to file an application wastaken after he
was summoned to Harare central police station on Tuesday,where he was told
that police had been ordered to stop the "illegal" publicmeetings planned by
the organisation in Harare and Bulawayo tomo-rrow.

Madhuku said he met
the officer commanding Harare central, ChiefSuperinte-ndent Kudzi
Mandi-mutsa, who told him that police had beeninstructed to disrupt the
meetings.

"The public rally does not compromise public order or security
and theaction by the police is unlawful," he said.

But police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said there were security concernsrelated to plans
by NCA members to march in the Harare city centre tomorrow.

"They wanted
to march from Rotten Row into the city centre and that is whatwe did not
agree with," he told the Financial Gazette. "There are manyreasons for that
(concern), including security-related ones."

The NCA has been drafting a
new constitution for Zimbabwe since March andthe final draft is due to be
submitted tomorrow for two months of publicdebate. Copies will be
distributed at public rallies that will be heldthroughout the
country.

Madhuku said the public meetings would go ahead despite the
threat ofdisruption by the police.

"The court order is not a
prerequisite for the public rallies. The ralliesare going ahead whether or
not we get any order. We do not need any courtorder to have these rallies,"
he said..

"The order is merely to stop the police from behaving
unlawfully and, ifthey ignore the order, we can sue them for civil
damages."

FRESH allegations of rampant corruption and improper
conduct have surfacedat struggling state airline Air Zimbabwe where
globe-trotting board membersand top executives are being accused of elbowing
out confirmed passengersand issuing free tickets to friends.

One of
the accused senior executives confirmed to the Financial Gazette thisweek
that at least one flight to London was forced to leave behind 32 payingand
confirmed passengers to accommodate board members and senior
executives.

Other sources said paying passengers had been left behind on
severaloccasions to make room for board members, senior managers and their
spousesand children.

The executives are also alleged to have
fraudulently earned thousands ofdollars after illegally converting their
hard currency allowances fortravelling outside the country on the local
black market.

According to official documents shown to this newspaper,
the airline'sofficials are paid allowances in convertible currencies such as
UnitedStates dollars and British pounds when travelling to foreign
destinations.

Board chairman Patrick Chingoka yesterday vehemently
dismissed charges thathis board had allowed rampant misconduct at the
airline, saying it hadactually done a lot of work to turn around the
troubled airline.

"This time last year the airline was operating on an
overdraft and wasrunning at a loss, but in the past six months we have
achieved positiveresults so much so that we are not operating on an
overdraft. We are able toservice all our requirements in local and foreign
currency," Chingoka said.

But inside sources said Chingoka himself was
one of the culprits implicatedin the abuse of facilities and had travelled
in the last 11 months toBritain, South Africa, Italy and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC),sometimes just to tour Air Zimbabwe
offices.

According to documents shown to this newspaper, Chingoka was
paid a total 1574.50 British pounds as allowances when he travelled to
Britain and Italyin December last year and May this year. For the trip to
the DRC last month,he received an allowance of US$570.

Chingoka said
he had travelled to Air Zimbabwe's offices abroad to getfirst-hand
information on how they were operating and the problems they werefacing and
had filed reports on the trips to his board.

"All these visits have
yielded positive results for the airline," Chingokasaid, adding: "How I am
supposed to chair an airline when I do not havefirst-and information of what
is going on in the area under myjurisdiction?"

According to the
sources, eight passengers were left behind by the airlineon its Harare to
London flight of August 27, allegedly to make room for itsgeneral manager
for marketing, Denis Maravanyika, who was travelling withseven members of
his family on free tickets.

Maravanyika had also last month sanctioned
free tickets from London toZimbabwe to five officials of a London travelling
agency.

Maravanyika, who together with his wife and children is entitled
to free airtickets under his contract of employment with Air Zimbabwe,
strenuouslydenied that paying passengers had to be left behind to
accommodate hisfamily.

"I did not at all cause anyone to be left
behind. When I got to the airport,I proceeded to buy departure stamps only
after checking with the manager onduty that day," he
said.

Maravanyika, who said he only learnt when he got to London that
somepassengers had been left behind in Harare, said there were people out
totarnish his image by choosing to only highlight his August trip to
Londonwhile ignoring trips by other airline officials that resulted in
passengersbeing left behind.

"Why are they not talking, for example,
about flight UM724 when a number ofboard members travelled to London and 32
passengers were left behind?" hesaid.

Maravanyika said Air Zimbabwe
was participating in national efforts toresuscitate the tourism sector and
these included the issuing of tickets totravel agents and holiday
consultants, especially from important marketssuch as London, for them to
see for themselves the improved situation in thecountry.

Chingoka
said the airline's position was that passengers came first and
thatMaravanyika's case was being looked into and that if there was
anymisconduct action would be taken.

According to other sources, Air
Zimbabwe is losing money and its reputationhas been tainted because
confirmed passengers find themselves without seatsdue to the huge number of
the airline's executives and workers who areconstantly
travelling.

"The airline is operating virtually without its top
executives as they arealways travelling to attend conferences and
conventions. You would thinkthey are also pilots with the way they fly," one
worker said.

Some workers at the airline who are entitled to free tickets
or heavilydiscounted ones - reduced by as much as 75 percent of the cost -
were alsotaking the joy rides on Air Zimbabwe flights, especially on the
popularHarare-London destination.

The airline sometimes leaves Harare
with as many as 30 members of staff onboard, including even former workers,
the sources said.

Other sources however said the situation had recently
normalised, withplanes to London now expected to carry a maximum of 10
workers a flight.

IF the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (Chogm) in Brisbane nextweek fails to grill President Mugabe on his
government’s persecution of theindependent Press, then we can discount the
Commonwealth as an ally in thefight against intolerance.

Some
critics might say “persecution” is a rather wrong word to use in
thegovernment’s relentless campaign to cow the independent Press. Many
others,on the other hand, feel that when an entire printing press is
destroyed,when reporters are routinely beaten up and newspaper editors
almost dailyvilified as agents of either the British Empire, The Great Satan
or TheImperialist Devil, “persecution” is probably a very mild description
of thatunholy campaign.Moreover, when the threat of a defamation suit
hangs over the papers likethe Sword of Damocles every time they plan to
publish a story justifiablyuncomplimentary of the President, his senior and
junior ministers, theirfreedom to provide readers with balanced stories of
genuine public interestis circumscribed.In any case, a government which
refuses to remove from the statute books alaw as obnoxiously anti-democratic
as the Law and Order (Maintenance) Acthas no business belonging to a
respectable group such as the Commonwealth.Loma, to use its notoriously
sinister acronym, was originally designed tosnuff out all dissension in the
country, then ruled by white supremacistswho did not believe sharing power
with black people was God’s wish.The black supremacist government now in
power has an equally odious design,using the same law to guillotine all
dissent. It wants a one-party,one-leader, one-ideology and one-newspaper
country. The leader would be anemperor or the equivalent thereof.There
is much evidence that this grand design will fail. Since 2000, theordinary
people have gloried in their power to cock a snook at the men andwomen who
meet in pompous assemblage in Shake Shake building in Harare tomassage the
giant-size ego of this one man, with praise songs and speechesbubbling with
the treacle of sycophancy.The independent Press, against all odds, has
continued to play its avowedrole as a disseminator of all information in the
genuine public interest.Attempts to gag the newspapers with massive lawsuits
and the personalvilification of editors have not succeeded in frightening
even the mostjunior reporters to ease their pressure on the accelerator
pedal of a freeand unfettered dialogue with the people.In Brisbane next
week, his colleagues in the Commonwealth should ask Mugabewhy he would
describe his party’s system of government as a democracy whenit is his clear
desire to have the media singing praises to him and his
agedleadership.They should ask him about details of his government’s
sinister Freedom ofInformation Bill, about which he and his Minister of
State for Informationand Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, remain darkly reticent.
There are not manyjournalists in Zimbabwe who know these details. Yet they
are the targets, tobe generous, the stakeholders. The contempt with which
Moyo regards alljournalists not working for him at Zimpapers and ZBC is
incredible. He seemsto regard them as morons, ignoramuses, sell-outs and
spies of the AmericanCIA, Britain’s MI6 and whatever spy network Tony Leon
is alleged to run inSouth Africa and Zimbabwe.Moyo’s intolerance of the
independent media and his publicly-expressedcontempt for them has set many
wondering why he is almost on a personalcrusade to crucify the
editors.But Moyo is only a megaphone. His master’s voice is not different
from his.In fact, since independence Mugabe has made no attempt to disguise
hiscontempt for an independent Press. He did not hesitate to order
thedismissal of any Zimpapers editors whose performance he perceived to
beindependent of his own Marxist-Leninist concept of a one-party,
one-leaderand one-newspaper system of government.Before Henry Muradzikwa
was dismissed as Editor of The Sunday Mail, Mugabeexpressed in very strong
language how he felt about such an editor. Some ofus were completely
flummoxed when Muradzikwa turned up later as theEditor-in-Chief of the
government-owned Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency(Ziana). What had
happened? Had Mugabe encountered a revelation of Damascusproportions to
change his mind so drastically?There was equal consternation when earlier he
and his politburo decided thatWillie Musarurwa, whose ouster as Editor of
The Sunday Mail beforeMuradzikwa, he must have applauded as heartily as any
die-hard Zanu PFzealot did (Musarurwa was PF-Zapu), be made a national
hero.His speech at the burial, to which I personally listened in
open-mouthedamazement, was unbelievably . . . sweet. There is no great
mystery to theantipathy between the government and a truly free Press in
Zimbabwe. Up tonow, Zanu PF has not accepted that it is the people who must
decide who willrule them and how they will be ruled.As far as Zanu PF is
concerned, these matters are too complicated for thepeople to understand and
they must wait until they have been thoroughlyeducated in the intricacies of
governance by Zanu PF. The independentnewspapers, going their own merry way,
have decided, nevertheless, toeducate the people on the dynamics of
governance. During both theconstitutional referendum and the parliamentary
election campaigns in 2000,many voters depended almost entirely on the
independent newspapers for theirgrasp of the issues.Other organisations,
including the National Constitutional Assembly,ZimRights and the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace, did playcrucial roles in both campaigns.
But all of them delivered their messages tothe people through the
independent newspapers, which added their owneditorial voices to
thedebate.In both the referendum and the election campaign, the control
freaks in ZanuPF realised they could not control everything. For a while, in
the aftermathof their humiliation, they resorted to violence, beating up
people at randomin all the urban centres they had lost.The presidents
and prime ministers at Chogm should ask Mugabe: why wereinnocent,
law-abiding citizens, including opposition Members of Parliament,beaten up?
How many of their assailants have been arrested and brought tobook?They
should grill him until he is forced to admit that, violence will alwaysbe
Zanu PF’s strategy in everything, whether it is land reform,
studentdemonstrations, industrial action by workers or an election
campaign.If, after all that, the heads of government do not decide to
suspendZimbabwe or, at the very least, censure Mugabe publicly, then
theindependent media will know they have to include the Commonwealth
amongtheir implacable enemies along with the Mugabe regime.bsaidi@dailynews.co.zw

ZIMBABWE'S militant war veterans
plan to raise about $200 million fromforeign donors to get President Robert
Mugabe re-elected despite agovernment ban on the use of foreign cash in
local elections.

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans'
Association (ZNLWVA) saidthis week it plans to raise $200 million from
foreign donors from the end ofthis year to campaign for next year's landmark
preside-ntial elections.

ZNLWVA secretary-general Andy Mhlanga said his
association, which has 10chapters around Zimbabwe, had already met to decide
on the funds it needsfrom foreign donors.

"We need $20 million for
each of the 10 provinces for the presidentialcampaign, which we have already
started working on," Mhlanga told theFinancial Gazette.

He said his
organisation was seeking money from outside the country becausethe ruling
ZANU PF party could not provide all the financial resourcesneeded to
campaign for the election, which will pit Mugabe againstopposition Move-ment
for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The ruling party is
understood to have budgeted at least $150 million tofund Mugabe's
re-election campaign.

Mhlanga said the countries the war veterans would
approach for funds includethe ruling party's long-time allies such as Libya
as well as regionalneighbours Mozambique, Zambia, Angola and South
Africa.

Libya is understood to have already pledged to give US$1 million
- $55million if using the government's present managed exchange rate or
$300million if using the parallel market rate - towards Mugabe's
campa-ign.

"As you are aware, we have agreed with other countries to form
a regionalassociation for liberation war veterans and these are some of the
countriesthat we would also approach for the money," the war veterans leader
said.

He said because the ZNLWVA was a welfare organisation, it was not
bound bygovernment regulations banning foreign funding for political
parties, widelybelieved to be aimed at cutting off funding to the
MDC.

Mhlanga said when ZANU PF officially launches its campaign at the
end of theyear, the party will provide vehicles and $15 million to the war
veterans,who were allocated $20 million in the run-up to the 2000
parliamentaryelection.

"ZANU PF will assist with mobility because the
cost of the whole campaign isunbearable, which is why we are looking beyond
our borders for the money,"said Mhlanga, whose group has become a crucial
part of the ruling party'selection strategy.

The war veterans last
year helped ZANU PF to garner a narrow victory in theparliamentary polls by
unleashing violence and terror against mostly ruralvoters and opposition
party members.

More than 35 people, most of them MDC members, died in the
run-up to theballot.

Political analysts yesterday said if the ZNLWVA
went ahead with its plans toraise foreign funds for ZANU PF, it would be
breaching the law and should bede-registered for going beyond its mandate as
a welfare organisation.

Lovemore Madhuku, an expert in constitutional law
and the chairman of theNational Constitutional Assembly, said the war
veterans' initiative amountedto indirect funding of the ruling
party.

"That amounts to an indirect way of financing a political party.
The ZNLWVAshould be de-registered because they would have undermined their
status ofbeing a welfare organisation."

MDC's information chief
Learnmore Jongwe said his party was aware of ZANUPF's attempts to use the
veterans to raise money on its behalf and thusevade the penalties of 1992's
Political Parties (Finance) Act, amended bythe government earlier this year
to ban foreign funding of Zimbabweanpolitical organisations.

"They
want to evade the Political Parties (Finance) Act," he said. "Becauseof this
fact, it would be a breach of the law to fund raise on behalf of theruling
party.

"This section of the war veterans being used is the hooligan
element withinthe ZANU PF membership. The police should investigate the
matter."

Brian Raftopolous, a political commentator, added: "I think it's
typicaldouble standards by ZANU PF who are desperate to bolster their
campaignduring next year's election.

"They have introduced such
amendments and yet they themselves have beensourcing money from outside the
country. Such an amount of money willdefinitely affect the campaign because
it gives them more capacity forbribery."

AN information security expert has warned that many businesses
are “wideopen” to breaches of their information technology (IT) systems,
andviolation of the integrity and confidentiality of information held on
theircomputer networks.

The expert, Dr John Sheppard said: “There are
some organisations in thiscountry that are wide open. There is room for a
lot of improvement in theirIT security. IT security is not a state that you
achieve. It’s somethingthat you work on all the time because there are
always new issues coming up.”

In a recent IT security breach the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s website washacked into and a link which was
supposed to lead to the Central AfricanBuilding Society website was replaced
by one leading to a site containingpornography.

Sheppard said often
even the most basic information security measures werenot being carried out
effectively.He said: “The general standard of computer passwords in this
country ispretty poor.”

Sheppard warned that electronic mail (e-mail)
could be more easily tappedthan phone calls or letters and that anyone who
sends information throughthe Internet should be aware of the
dangers.

Internet Service Provider Zimbabwe Online’s managing director,
David Behr,said: “Most people think e-mail is safe and they take huge risks
with theinformation they transmit. The truth is that, while e-mail is a
fast,efficient system for sharing data, you have to take some precautions.
Thisis especially true in business communication.”

As a first step
Sheppard urged computer users to ensure the physicalsecurity of
computers.

Thousands of Zanu PF supporters from Kwekwe and Kadoma have
invaded threegold mines in the Midlands province in the last few days,
allegedly stealinggold concentrate worth millions of dollars.

The
invasions are allegedly being co-ordinated from the Zanu PF offices inKwekwe
where only party card holders are given clearance letters to pan forgold on
targeted mines.The latest victims are Duzi Mine in Kwekwe, Globe and Phoenix
Mine, owned byKwekwe Consolidated Mines, and Rio Tinto Mine in
Kadoma.Officials at the three mines yesterday declined to comment for fear
ofreprisals, referring all questions to the police.

A retired senior
army of ficer has been named as the brains behind the mineinvasions which
come a few days after the Nigerian-brokered Abuja agreementwhich bars
lawlessness and invasions of property. The same retired armyofficer led the
Zanu PF election campaign team in the Midlands province lastyear.

The
ruling party candidates lost heavily to the opposition MDC. It could notbe
established yesterday whether it was a deliberate party policy to invadethe
mines. Isaac Mugwagwa, the Zanu PF acting provincial chairman, could notbe
reached for comment. MDC officials yesterday described the mine invasionsas
economic sabotage by Zanu PF.“They have realised that their support base is
waning and they haverecruited thugs and gold panners to disrupt production
on mines in the hopethat they will add their numbers in next year’s
Presidential election,” saidBlessing Chebundo, the MDC MP for
Kwekwe.

Last Friday, five senior Zanu PF officials from Kwekwe appeared
in court oncharges of armed robbery following a raid at Duzi Mine by a group
of about60 Zanu PF supporters.The group, which arrived at the mine
aboard three hired trucks, assaultedthe mine workers and looted grocery
goods and gold concentrate worth $145000.

According to the police,
the group later gathered at the Zanu PF officesafter the raid.Their
leaders, David Mutimwi, 46, Fidelis Bhebhe, 29, Stella Jere, 47,Chrispen
Nhidza, 39, and Matthias Madovi, 43, were denied bail by Gwerumagistrate
David Johnston-Butcher and remanded in custody to 5 October.

Two weeks
ago, hundreds of suspected Zanu PF supporters stormed KwekweConsolidated
Gold Mines and Rio Tinto Mine in Kadoma, where they allegedlylooted several
tonnes of gold alluvial, before they were dispersed by thepolice.Over
the weekend, armed police officers at Globe and Phoenix Mine allegedlyfled
after more than 4 000 Zanu PF supporters besieged the mine again andgot away
with millions of dollars worth of gold concentrate.No suspects have been
arrested in the latest incident